The present invention relates to devices for shuffling playing cards used in playing games. In particular, it relates to an electromechanical machine for shuffling playing cards, wherein the machine is specifically adapted to shuffle multiple decks of playing cards to improve casino play of card games.
Wagering games based on the outcome of randomly generated or selected symbols are well known. Such games are widely played in gambling casinos and include card games wherein the symbols comprise familiar, common playing cards. Card games such as twenty-one or blackjack, Pai Gow poker, Caribbean Stud(trademark) poker and others are excellent card games for use in casinos. Desirable attributes of casino card games are that they are exciting, that they can be learned and understood easily by players, and that they move or are played rapidly to their wager-resolving outcome.
One of the most popular of the above-mentioned casino games is twenty-one. As outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,492 (LeVasseur), conventional twenty-one is played in most casinos and involves a game of chance between a dealer and one or more players. The object is for the player to achieve a count of his hand closer to 21 than the count of the hand of the dealer. If the count of the player""s hand goes over 21 then the player loses regardless of the final count of the dealer""s hand.
At least one standard deck of playing cards is used to play the game. Each card counts its face value, except aces which have a value of one or eleven as is most beneficial to the count of the hand. Each player initially receives two cards. The dealer also receives two cards. One of the dealer""s cards is dealt face down and the other of the dealer""s cards is dealt face up.
A player may draw additional cards (take xe2x80x9chitsxe2x80x9d) in order to try and beat the count of the dealer""s hand. If the player""s count exceeds 21, the players xe2x80x9cbusts.xe2x80x9d The player may xe2x80x9cstandxe2x80x9d on any count of 21 or less. When a player busts, he loses his wager regardless of whether or not the dealer busts. After all of the players have taken hits or stood on their hand, the dealer xe2x80x9cstandsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chitsxe2x80x9d based on pre-established rules for the game. Typically, if the dealer has less than 17, the dealer must take a hit. If the dealer has 17 or more, the dealer stands.
After the dealer""s final hand has been established, the numerical count of the dealer""s hand is compared to the numerical count of the player""s hand. If the dealer busts, the player wins regardless of the numerical count of his hand. If neither the player nor the dealer have busted, the closest hand to numerical count of 21, without going over, wins; tie hands are a xe2x80x9cpush.xe2x80x9d
As used in the preceding description and in this disclosure, the terms xe2x80x9cconventional twenty-onexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cthe conventional manner of play of twenty-onexe2x80x9d mean the game of twenty-one as described herein and also including any of the known variations of the game of twenty-one.
Twenty-one has remained remarkably popular and unchanged over the years. Because of its popularity, the rapidity of play, and the need to reduce or eliminate card counting by players, twenty-one is usually played with multiple decks that are frequently shuffled. Thus, from the perspective of a casino, the play of a round of twenty-one takes a predictable length of time. In particular, the time the dealer must spend in shuffling diminishes the excitement of the game and reduces the number of wagers placed and resolved in a given amount of time. Modifications of the basic twenty-one game, including the LeVasseur modification, have been proposed to speed play or otherwise increase the number of wagers made and resolved, but none of these modifications have achieved a large measure of popularity, probably because they change the game.
Casinos would like to increase the amount of revenue generated by the game of twenty-one in the same time period without changing the game or simply increasing the size of the wagers of the player. Therefor, another approach to speeding play is directed specifically to the fact that playing time is diminished by shuffling and dealing. This problem is particularly acute in games such as twenty-one, but in other casino games as well, for which multiple shuffled decks are used and has lead to the development of electromechanical or mechanical card shuffling devices. Such devices increase the speed of shuffling and dealing, thereby increasing playing time, adding to the excitement of a game by reducing the time the dealer or house has to spend in preparing to play the game.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,513,969 (Samsel, Jr.) and 4,515,367 (Howard) disclose automatic card shufflers. The Samsel, Jr. patent discloses a card shuffler having a housing with two wells for receiving two reserve stacks of cards. A first extractor selects, removes and intermixes the bottommost card from each stack and delivers the intermixed cards to a storage compartment. A second extractor sequentially removes the bottommost card from the storage compartment and delivers it to a typical shoe from which the dealer may take it for presentation to the players. The Howard patent discloses a card mixer for randomly interleaving cards including a carriage supported ejector for ejecting a group of cards (approximately two playing decks in number) which may then be removed manually from the shuffler or dropped automatically into a chute for delivery to a typical dealing shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,712 (Lorber, et al.) discloses an automatic shuffling apparatus designed to intermix cards under the programmed control of a computer and is directed toward reducing the dead time generated when a casino dealer manually has to shuffle multiple decks of playing cards. The Lorber, et al. apparatus is a carousel-type shuffler having a container, a storage device for storing shuffled playing cards, a removing device and an inserting device for intermixing the playing cards in the container, a dealing shoe and supplying means for supplying the shuffled playing cards from the storage device to the dealing shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,453 (Stevens et al.) discloses an apparatus for automatically shuffling and cutting cards. The Stevens et al. machine includes three contiguous magazines with an elevatable platform card supporting means in the center magazine only. Unshuffled cards are placed in the center magazine and the spitting rollers at the top of the magazine spit the cards randomly to the left and right magazine where they accumulate. This amounts to a simultaneous cutting and shuffling step. The cards are moved back into the center magazine by direct lateral movement of each shuffled stack, placing one stack on top of the other to stack all cards in a shuffled stack in the center magazine. The order of the cards in each stack does not change in moving from the right and left magazines into the center magazine. The Stevens et al. device does not provide a distinct cutting step in the shuffling procedure. Cutting is a traditional step taken before shuffling cards and provides a sense of security for card players. In a further departure from xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d manual or hand shuffling, the Stevens et al. device shuffles cards by randomly diverging cards from an unshuffled stack of cards. Normally, cards are cut and then randomly merged to interleaf them into a single stack of shuffled cards.
Other known card shuffling devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,778,644 (Stephenson), 4,497,488 (Plevyak et al.), 4,807,884 and 5,275,411 (the latter two patents issued to John G. Breeding, a co-inventor of the present invention, and commonly owned). The Breeding patents disclose machines for automatically shuffling a single deck of cards including a deck receiving zone, a carriage section for separating a deck into two deck portions, a sloped mechanism positioned between adjacent corners of the deck portions, and an apparatus for snapping the cards over the sloped mechanism to interleave the cards. They are directed to providing a mechanized card shuffler whereby a deck may be shuffled often and yet the dealer still has adequate time to operate the game being played. Additionally, the Breeding shuffling devices are directed to reducing the chance that cards become marked as they are shuffled and to keeping the cards in view constantly while they are being shuffled.
One reason why known shuffling machines, with the exception of the Breeding machines, have failed to achieve widespread use is that they involve or use non-traditional manipulation of cards, making players wary and uncomfortable. Although the devices disclosed in the preceding patents, particularly the Breeding single deck card shuffling machines, provide significant improvements in card shuffling devices, such devices could be improved further if they could automatically, effectively and randomly shuffle together multiple decks of playing cards in a shuffling operation which approximates as closely as possible the steps in manual or hand shuffling.
Accordingly, there is a need for a shuffling machine for shuffling playing cards, wherein the machine is adapted to facilitate the casino play of card games wherein it is advantageous to have intermingled, multiple decks of cards shuffled and ready for use.
The problems outlined above are in large measure solved by the card shuffling machine of the present invention, which provides for randomly shuffling together multiple decks of playing cards to facilitate the casino play of certain wagering games, particularly the game known as twenty-one or blackjack.
The present invention comprises an electromechanical card shuffling machine for shuffling intermingled multiple decks of playing cards, most typically four to eight decks. The shuffling procedure is controlled by an integral microprocessor and monitored by a plurality of photosensors and limit switches. The machine includes a first vertically extending magazine for holding a vertically registered stack of unshuffled playing cards, and second and third vertically extending magazines for holding a vertically registered stack of cards, the second and third magazines being horizontally spaced from and adjoining the first magazine. A first card mover is disposed at the top of the first magazine for individually engaging and moving cards from the top of the stack of cards in the first magazine horizontally and alternatively to the second and third magazine to cut the stack of unshuffled playing cards into two unshuffled stacks. Second and third card movers are at the top of the second and third magazines, respectively, for randomly moving individual cards from the top of the stacks of cards in the second and third magazines, respectively, to the first magazine, thereby interleaving the cards to form a vertically registered stack of shuffled cards in the first magazine.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electromechanical card shuffling apparatus for automatically and randomly, shuffling multiple decks of playing cards.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electromechanical card shuffling device for shuffling cards, thereby facilitating and improving the casino playing of wagering games, particularly twenty-one.
Additional objects of the present invention are to reduce dealer shuffling time, thereby increasing the playing time, and to reduce or eliminate problems such as card counting, possible dealer manipulation and card tracking, thereby increasing the integrity of a game and enhancing casino security.
Another object of the present invention is to improve the art of card shuffling by providing a card shuffling machine for randomly shuffling together multiple decks of cards, just as the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,807,884 and 5,275,411, the disclosure of which patents is incorporated herein by reference, provide for the automatic, random shuffling of a single deck of playing cards.
A feature of the machine of the present invention is a transparent, machine operated access door for the card shuffling chamber of the machine. An associated advantage is that all the cards are completely visible to players all during the shuffling process.
The present invention includes automatic jammed shuffle detection and rectification features and procedures which are operated and controlled by the microprocessor. Another feature of the present invention is an integral exhaust fan or blower system for keeping the interior surfaces of the machine, including slide surfaces and the photosensors free of dust and cool.
Additional advantages of the shuffling machine of the present invention are that it facilitates and speeds the play of casino wagering games, particularly twenty-one, making the games more exciting for players. It also reduces the effectiveness of card counting or tracking by players by enabling the shuffling of and play from multiple decks of cards.
In use, the machine of the present invention is operated to repeatedly shuffle up to eight decks of playing cards. The access door is opened, and the dealer places the selected number of unshuffled decks in the first, central magazine. The machine is started and, under the control of the integral microprocessor, the machine separates or cuts the unshuffled decks into two unshuffled stacks, one in each of the second and third magazines. The machine then randomly moves individual cards from the top of the stacks in the second and third magazines back to the first magazine, interleaving the cards to form a vertically registered stack of shuffled cards in the first magazine. The machine automatically repeats the shuffling sequence a preprogrammed number of times depending on the number of decks being shuffled.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent and understood with reference to the following specification and to the appended drawings and claims.